Summary
Things have gotten busy in the last couple of years with life and work, and I realized that I have way too many ongoing projects. So, I'm making an effort to stop starting new ones before I clear these backlogs. I've entered a few contests around this time of year and hopefully that pushes me to finish them off in good order.
This HGUC Gelgoog Cannon kit is a kit I snapped up in 2021, originally for Zach's "Clean vs Weathered" contest. But I never progressed beyond snap-building, after I grossly overestimated the amount of free time that I would have. This time I've decided to enter it as my contribution to Cerulean Project 3 as well as the Cannon Fodder II contest. It is a fairly simple kit, but the engineering is dated and there were several problematic seam lines. I wanted to get some practice with scratch-building large pieces, so that was a focus of this build.
As always, check out my IG for more regular updates: @yulongsgunpla
Prep
No extensive structural modifications were performed to the main kit - only the addition of surface details to approximate the appearance of the MG Gelgoog 2.0. There are a few seamlines on the shoulder armour, knees, and elbows that were problematic, and certain parts had to be pre-painted so that the seams can be fixed post-assembly.
Head and torso mods
Shoulder vents + details
Leg seam removal + scribing new panel lines
The major modification came with the backpack and the missile launcher. I needed a high mobility backpack and I started by trying to modify the existing cannon backpack. I had to scrap it as it turns out to be easier to build it from scratch using the Uma Lightning Gelgoog as a reference.
Backpack attempt 1
Scratch-built attempt 2
Using the same reference, I scratch built the missile launcher. I just thought this weapon was so cool with its simple and brutalist design. The Wave pla-plates with pre-printed scale helps a lot in translating measurements directly to the build material. For the missiles, I was concerned about scraping the sides of the missile rods if I had to push them through the entire scaffold during final assembly. So, I build them using an inner rod that can thread through a larger one, as shown below. I also needed to cement 62 rivets on the sides.
Deconstructed missile launcher
Pre-assembled
The last major modification was the rifle - I cut off the stock to make it less obstructive to pose.
Short rifle mod
Painting
For this build, I also wanted to test how efficient I can paint without compromising the appearance. I did my usual basecoat and post-shading and then essentially skipped every gloss coat ("save point"). This meant panel lining, placing waterslide decals, and brush painting details directly on the basecoat, followed by a final matte top-coat with GX144. I did experience some silvering of decals, possibly due to absence of the gloss coats, so it looks like that's a step I shouldn't skip.
I also made use of the colour orange for the Cerulean theme, but I could not get it to work as a primary colour. I am a fan of muted tones, and orange was really the opposite, so I used it as an accent instead. The stripes on the legs were painted with the help of 1 mm masking tape.
- Primer: Mr. Surfacer black
- Blacks and greys: Nazca Frost Matte Black + 2 grey mixes by titrating Nazca Warm White
- Orange accents: Custom Mix
- Panel line: Mr. weathering colour black, Tamiya accent colour brown
- Matte coat: GX144
Gallery
Standing 3/4
Front
Missile side
Top-front
Orange thrusters
Backpack details
Leg details, with painted orange accents
Side details
Remarks
In general, quite pleased with the efficiency of my work on this kit. I was happy to clear this from the WIP-backlog, and the accessories and weapons do make the suit stand out.
I think the orange accent adds a bit of pop in contrast to the monochrome background and I'm very pleased with how the rocket launcher turned out. I had to cement and sand around 62 rivets on the scaffold, but these details turned out pretty clean after painting.
Hope to crank out a few more kits this year before the cold weather starts messing with my painting days.
- Y
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